The Pope's Favorite Football Team Is Suddenly A South American Powerhouse

Cork Gaines, provided by

Published 2:54 pm, Thursday, August 14, 2014

In addition to being Pope Francis and the head of the Catholic church, Jorge Mario Bergoglio is a passionate soccer fan and supporter of the Argentinian club, San Lorenzo.

One fellow countryman who once delivered items to the pope for the club told Reuters that Pope Francis "lives in a permanent state of suffering for San Lorenzo."

However, since Bergoglio became the pope, San Lorenzo has had an unprecedented level of success that culminated this week when they defeated Club Nacional from Paraguay to win the Copa Libertadores and claim the title of champions of South America for the first time.

This came after San Lorenzo won the initial portion of the 2013-14 Argentina's Premier Division to become champions of Argentina for the first time in seven years.

This has been an amazing turnaround for the club. The year before Pope Francis became the head of the Catholic Church, the club had to win a playoff just to avoid being kicked out of the first division.

Instead, their most famous supporter got a new job and now San Lorenzo is suddenly the best team in South America.

At the Vatican on Easter, Pope Francis proudly waved a San Lorenzo shirt he received from the crowd.

He even has a card declaring him a member of the club that was given to him by the team.